I was doing so well ““ that is blogging much more regularly. However, the past three weeks have been a most busy time at the Capranica Villa. In addition to a week of vacation, the rigors of normal ministry and family life, we have had little added activity around here.

I changed over [well, really my good friend Chad did the heavy lifting] THE CAPRANICA to its own domain name. There is still a bit to do to get everything working perfectly, but it is done and I’m very pleased with it. WordPress is such a great blogging platform.

I also taught a seminar recently at our Association’s
Equipped for Excellence Sunday School conference. The seminar was entitled, “How to Plan the Work of Your Church” (it was assigned to me). I enjoyed the prep for this five hour workshop. We discussed how to effectively implement your philosophy of ministry, organize around it and execute it well. I don’t think I do this as well as I like, but I thoroughly enjoyed the preparation, teaching, and discussion ““ and it is an area for constant personal and ministry growth. In order to be finished on time with the 50 page handout for 30 people, the power-point and my notes, I had to pull an all-nighter-I don’t do these as well as I used to and the effects tend to linger a bit longer.

I’ve also begun teaching a new class at church on Baptist History and Theology. This has been a great time of study and review for me ““ reminding me of the biblical nature and the historical cost behind what we hold dear and fundamental as a gospel driven church. We have around 30 in the class and it’s really been a thrill to do some extra reading and preparation for this class.

We have also been in the process of finalizing our part in fostering Lizzy. We are not thrilled with the way the Child Protective Services have conducted themselves in this process. We do not agree with the judge’s decision ““ that is, we believe that the long-term interests of the kids were dismissed along with the court’s dependency today. There is much I could say on this, but I am quite satisfied with God’s goodness and sovereignty over all the events. Needless to say, I’ve spent a few evenings this past week thinking about and preparing our final statement which we read to the court today. Thankfully, we did get the opportunity to briefly see Liz, Jade and their baby brother, Branson ““ and got to blow a few kisses to them (that’s as far as we could really get to them) as we left the court room. While sad, we really are satisfied in the Lord and we have grown in many ways.

This weekend has been a whirlwind. We were called last Thursday and asked if we would consider pursuing the adoption of twins that had yet to be born. Kelly, and a number of people involved went to meet the birth mother. At this point, I’ll have to withhold the details. Suffice it to say, we are still waiting for this situation to come to fruition. To our knowledge the babies have not yet been born and we are in a holding pattern. When it reaches a conclusion, I’ll let you in on what was a very long weekend with unpredictable soap opera drama.

So, tonight I write with a sense of finality in the situation with Liz, and anticipation for the Lord’s next steps for our family. I’m also eager to get back to the ebb and flow of ministry and the life of our local church. Hopefully, in the next few days, I’ll round out my review of Cheap Technology and the Ordinary Pastor here on the blog. I’m behind on a lot of work and look forward to diving back into it this week.